Image of NYPD wrestling with Garner and placing him in a chokehold, moments before his death. (Photo credit: Twitter)

The video was shot by a witness who tells the camera that Garner had moments before police arrived been breaking up a fight. In the video, a frustrated Garner is seen complaining to officers that he is constantly harassed by police and questioning why they have detained him.

Moments later, officers approach Garner and attempt to arrest him. Garner pulls his hands up while saying “Please, don’t touch me.” That’s when Pantaleo can be seen immediately putting Garner into a chokehold. Garner is then wrestled to the ground by several officers, including Pantaleo who can be seen dangling his full body weight from Garner’s throat. Garner can be heard repeating from underneath the police “I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe!” as another plainsclothes officer uses his hand to force Garner’s face into the sidewalk.

Yet, this status quo disturbs because, as 538 notes, this leaves police officers largely immune from prosecution in the use of lethal force against a suspect, most of whom are statistically likely to be Black. Police are in essence given an unspoken, yet widely understood, free pass to assault — sometimes fatally — Black men and women. Police are in essence judge, jury and executioner — a fact that is revealed when we consider that 1 Black man is killed every 28 hours by police in this country.

While most have cited Eric Garner’s final words — “I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe.” — I think it is Garner’s statements moments before those that should really be considered: in them, Garner pleads with officers to stop harassing him. He begs police to leave him alone so that he can mind his own business. He refers to a pattern of excessive scrutiny and harassment. It is a pointed reminder that life for Eric Garner was a life under siege.

While police-worn body cameras are both a necessary and a common sense solution, it is still also just a band-aid solution that neglects a deeper, societal problem in this country: our ongoing disrespect, dehumanization, and fear of the Black body.

A video camera did not protect Eric Garner. It did not protect Tamir Rice, Darren Hunt, or John Crawford — all unarmed Black boys and men whose deaths in fatal shootings by police were caught on surveillance video. It did not protect Armand Bennett, who was shot in the head by officer Lisa Lewis who wore a body camera and turned it off before turning her gun on Bennett.

Police-worn body cameras can help advocate for the victims of police killings by establishing the circumstances of a death. A police-worn body camera can make it more difficult for police to cover-up the circumstances of a Black person’s death. A police-worn body camera can show the true ugliness of police brutality, a reality that the vast majority of Americans — privileged by both skin and income — rarely witness firsthand.

But, one thing a police-worn body camera cannot do is make police respect and value Black lives.